my-romance-library

[my-romance-library]

~ 2023 Reading Wrapped! ~

[my-romance-library]

'Hot Blooded' (Tooth & Claw #2) - Heather Guerre

Desperate times call for desperate measures…

Saddled with insurmountable debt, Tessa is desperate for a way out. When she’s referred to an agency that pairs vampires with blood donors as a quick way to make some cash, she has no choice but to accept an arrangement. She expects pain. She expects fear. She expects a predator. But what she gets is something entirely different. Her vampire match is... sweet. Kind. Protective. And the way he makes her feel is anything but painful.

Can the ends justify the means…?

Amos has long since given up on the idea of ever finding a blood mate. Accepting that the only live blood he’ll ever enjoy will be from paid donors, he finally gives in and enlists a blood-matching service. But when he finally meets his match, she’s everything he could have asked for in a mate—kind, funny, beautiful. He knows right away that he wants her for keeps, but it’s a huge leap from temporary donor to eternal blood mate. If Amos is going to keep Tessa forever, he’ll have to win her heart first.

Predatory hunger sharpened to a piercing ache in his fangs. “Ah, Tessa, you make it so hard to be a gentleman,” he growled.

Her gaze dipped briefly to his lap and the obvious bulge beneath his jeans, a dangerous smile curling one corner of her mouth. She looked back up, meeting his eyes again. “Good.”

cw: primal play, cnc play

[my-romance-library]

'Captive of the Horde King' (Horde Kings of Dakkar #1) - Zoey Draven

She made a deal with the Dakkari devil. Now, he owns her.

On the unforgiving planet of Dakkar, I did what all the humans in our village did: kept my head down, worked to provide for my family, and I certainly didn’t break any Dakkari laws to risk inciting the alien race’s merciless wrath.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for my brother and one careless mistake brings a horde of the nomadic, barbarian Dakkari straight to our doorstep, led by their powerful horde king—a cold, ruthless, battle-scarred warrior demanding retribution.

In order to save my brother’s life, I do the unthinkable.

I sell myself to the horde king as his war prize. I agree to warm his furs, to travel with his horde across the wild lands of Dakkar, and to never see my family again.

But as I struggle with my new reality, I discover that the surly, mysterious, dominant horde king never intended for me to be his concubine…

He wants me as his queen.

[my-romance-library]

'Games with the Orc' (Monster Smash Agency #1) - Kathryn Moon

Sunny has spent years of her life hiding from her own desires and hiding them from those she loves.

Forced to face the idea of denying that part of herself forever, Sunny takes a nose dive out of her routine and into her fantasies. All she needs is the help of Monster Smash Agency and one exceptionally talented Orc.

Khell'ar has mastered his work with Monster Smash Agency, satisfying his clients with perfect expertise. Guiding inexperienced Sunny into a new realm of extreme pleasures should be easy, simple. All he has to do is follow her requests, play his part, and not form a mating bond.

But Sunny is orc bait, and Khell'ar is more than even her wildest dreams could concoct.

[my-romance-library]

'Seduction of a Psychopomp: Erogenous Hand Holding and Other Ways to Tame your Reaper' (The Boundlands #3) - Elsie Winters

I won't live to see my 29th birthday unless I make a deal to marry Death.

An arranged marriage to a grim reaper? Whatever keeps me on this side of the dirt.

My new husband Victor is formidable, built like a god, and ... is scary supposed to be this sexy? Because it's kind of sexy. The problem is he doesn't seem to get this whole marriage thing. Every time I approach him for company, he scampers off like a disgruntled cat.

I'd be fine with letting him have his space, but I can't help being reminded every time I look at him that a girl has needs. How can I lure my new husband into bed? And is it even possible to win the heart of a reaper?

[my-romance-library]

'The Orc from the Office' (Claws & Cubicles #2) - Kate Prior

Mate-bonding with a co-worker is against company policy... accidentally or not.

Janice knows better than anyone that entanglements with co-workers are risky business.

But when Janice accidentally breaks a co-workers nose, she finds herself unexpectedly mated to an orc, and under Monster Resources’ scrutiny.

Khent from the IT Department is quiet and nerdy, despite the tusks. His emails are overly wordy. He won’t stop apologizing even though she’s the one who broke his glasses.

Clearly, fate got this one wrong.

All Janice has to do is stay away from Khent until the bond dissipates. Easy enough, right? Except…

…Her company laptop chooses this week to need the orc from the IT Department, repeatedly.

…She accidentally clicks on orc porn at work and has to take remedial phishing training with Khent.

…Their bond will keep pulling them back together until it is completed.

[my-romance-library]

'Traded For Their Pleasure' (Coveted Prey #16) - L.V. Lane

My husband coned two barbarians out of ten chickens.

Now they’re at my door demanding recompense.

I’m sick of my husband’s nonsense and nefarious trading ways.

Enough is enough, I’m set to leave him tomorrow.

Only the barbarians demand a trade for their ten lost chickens.

My scoundrel of a husband has just offered me.

Traded for Their Pleasure is a spicy omegaverse why choose with two barbarian alphas set to woo their beta mate!

[my-romance-library]

'Duke of Sin' (Maiden Lane #10) - Elizabeth Hoyt

A MAN OF SIN

Devastatingly handsome. Vain. Unscrupulous. Valentine Napier, the Duke of Montgomery, is the man London whispers about in boudoirs and back alleys. A notorious rake and blackmailer, Montgomery has returned from exile, intent on seeking revenge on those who have wronged him. But what he finds in his own bedroom may lay waste to all his plans.

A WOMAN OF HONOR

Born a bastard, housekeeper Bridget Crumb is clever, bold, and fiercely loyal. When her aristocratic mother becomes the target of extortion, Bridget joins the Duke of Montgomery's household to search for the incriminating evidence-and uncovers something far more dangerous.

A SECRET THAT THREATENS TO DESTROY THEM BOTH

Astonished by the deceptively prim-and surprisingly witty-domestic spy in his chambers, Montgomery is intrigued. And try as she might, Bridget can't resist the slyly charming duke. Now as the two begin their treacherous game of cat and mouse, they soon realize that they both have secrets—and neither may be as nefarious—or as innocent—as they appear . . .

She’d well and truly provoked him this time. She’d lost him a wife for a second time—first by preventing his blackmailing Miss Royle and now by actually freeing the heiress. It was almost as if Séraphine had something against the matrimonial state. But worse—much, much worse—she’d run away herself.

That was unpardonable, unforgivable, unjustifiable. Hit him, shame him, spit at him—anything but turn her back on him. She couldn’t simply quit their game. That, that was not allowed.

cw: mentions of child abuse, animal abuse, SA

[my-romance-library]

'King of Wrath' (Kings of Sin #1) - Ana Huang

She’s the wife he never wanted…and the weakness he never saw coming.

Ruthless. Meticulous. Arrogant.

Dante Russo thrives on control, both personally and professionally.

The billionaire CEO never planned to marry—

until the threat of blackmail forces him into an engagement with a woman he barely knows.

Vivian Lau, jewelry heiress and daughter of his newest enemy.

It doesn’t matter how beautiful or charming she is. He'll do everything in his power to destroy the evidence and their betrothal.

There’s only one problem: now that he has her...he can't bring himself to let her go.

***

Elegant. Ambitious. Well-mannered.

Vivian Lau is the perfect daughter and her family’s ticket into the highest echelons of high society.

Marrying a blue-blooded Russo means opening doors that would otherwise remain closed to her new-money family.

While the rude, elusive Dante isn't her idea of a dream partner, she agrees to their arranged marriage out of duty.

Craving his touch was never part of the plan.

Neither was the worst thing she could possibly do: fall in love with her future husband.

King of Wrath is a steamy billionaire/arranged marriage romance. It contains explicit sexual content, profanity, and mild violence. Recommended for mature readers only.

I tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, the movement gentle, almost tender before my hand skimmed down the side of her neck and curled around the back.

“You forget.” I pressed my fingers against her nape, forcing her to look up at me. “You’re my fiancée. Not Kai’s. Not anyone else’s. I don’t give a fuck how handsome they are or what type of accent they have. You’re mine, and no one…” I dipped my head, my lips brushing hers with each word. “Touches what’s mine.”

[my-romance-library]

'The Kingmaker Chronicles' series - Amanda Bouchet

A Promise of Fire (#1)

KINGDOMS WILL RISE AND FALL FOR HER...

Cat Fisa isn't who she pretends to be. She's perfectly content disguised as a soothsayer in a traveling circus, avoiding the destiny the Gods—and her dangerous family—have saddled her with. As far as she's concerned, the magic humming within her blood can live and die with her. She won't be anyone’s pawn.

But then she locks eyes with an ambitious warlord from the magic-deprived south and her illusion of safety is shattered forever.

Griffin knows Cat is the Kingmaker—the woman able to divine truth through lies—and he wants her to be a powerful weapon for his newly conquered realm. Kidnapping her off the street is simple enough, but keeping her by his side is infuriatingly tough. Cat fights him at every turn, showing a ferocity of spirit that burns hot...and leaves him desperate for more. But can he ever hope to prove to his once-captive that he wants her there by his side as his equal, his companion—and maybe someday, his Queen?

“I may not be holding you with a magic rope anymore, but I will never let you go, and I will never leave you. I would defy creatures, and Gods, and terrible, brutal queens to keep you safe and by my side. I would move Mount Olympus itself to hold you in my arms and feel your heart beat against mine. You are my soul, and yes, I will fight for you and protect you until my dying breath.”

//

Breath of Fire (#2)

[my-romance-library]

'Ghost Walk' - Cassandra Gannon

Grace Rivera just wants to be normal. She’s the only member of her spell-casting, fortune-telling family who isn’t hunting unicorns or trying to discover the lost recipe for Troll Powder. Trained as a crime scene investigator, she believes in science and cold, hard facts. And right now, the cold, hard facts are telling Grace that she’s lost her mind. It started last July, when she “hallucinated” that she traveled back in time to relive a crime before it had even happened. Her resulting breakdown cost Grace her forensics job, so now she’s stuck working as a tour guide in her Revolutionary War themed hometown. After a year of rebuilding her life, she’s finally convincing herself that she might just have a chance to be normal, again. …Until a handsome, sarcastic, and really real seeming ghost shows up on her Ghost Walk, anyway.

Captain James Riordan was unjustly hanged for murder on July 4th 1789. Ever since then, he’s been haunting the streets on Harrisonburg, Virginia, trying to find some way to clear his name. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to prove his innocence as an incorporeal ghost, so mostly he whiles away his un-life watching teen soaps on TV and tagging along on Harrisonburg’s nightly Ghost Walk. The tour is supposed to tell visitors spooky stories about the historic town. On this particular night, though, there’s a new tour guide leading the group. She’s terrible at waving scary tales. She looks like a Sunday school teacher. She’s spreading slanderous lies about him. …And she’s the first person in centuries that can actually see him.

Now Grace and Jamie are working together to solve a two hundred year old crime. From the eighteenth century and back again, the two of them are determined to clear Jamie’s name and set history right. Even if it means some time-traveling forensics work. Even if it means Grace has to listen to Jamie lament his lost pirate’s treasure (a lot) and Jamie is frustrated because he can’t physically touch the one person in the world he’s sure is his. Even if it means dealing with Grace’s stalking ex-boyfriend, her crazy relatives, and the Rivera’s lost recipe for Troll Powder. …And especially if it means a scoundrel of a ghost and girl who just wants to be normal somehow fall in love along the way.

[my-romance-library]

'Momento Mori' series - Kathryn Ann Kingsley

Kiss of the Necromancer #1

Memento Mori. Remember that you will die. Too bad that death is all Marguerite can recall.

Marguerite has no problem remembering death. She can remember dying again, and again, and again. The issue is that the impossible visions of her life coming to gruesome and terrible ends are the only things she can remember.

Who is she? What happened to her? And why are her visions haunted by a man with shining silver eyes that seems to draw her in, even as he takes her life?

When she starts to discover answers…it seems her memories aren’t as impossible as she thought.

"My knowledge is yours. My wealth, my power, all that I am is yours.” His arms slid around her waist, and he held her against his chest in an embrace.

She could not help but let her eyes slip shut as she leaned against him. “And you have taken all I am in return.”

//

Dreams of the Necromancer #2

//

Tale of the Necromancer #3

cw: abuse between MCs

[my-romance-library]

'The Unseelie Duke' (Deal of Shadows #1) - Kathryn Ann Kingsley

Enter a world of darkness and desire, where even true love comes at a deadly price.

In the twisted world of the Unseelie fae, dreams are currency and wishes are power. Izael, the serpentine Duke of Bones, a fae lord with a fierce reputation, finds himself desperate for freedom. And to get it, he only needs one simple thing—a deal with a human. When he sets his sights on Alex, a destitute witch down on her luck, he sees a chance to gain everything he's ever wanted.

Alex wasn’t expecting to lose her job. It was the last thing keeping her afloat. And now with no money in her account, and homelessness looming, she casts a spell and asks for help from anyone willing to listen.

She should have been more specific.

Now she has a handsome Unseelie fae begging to grant her deepest wish. As far as Alex is concerned, she doesn’t have one. She knows better than to trust him, but he convinces her to take a wager—for seven days and seven nights, they will split their time between Earth and Tir n'Aill. If she truly does not have a wish after those seven days, he'll make sure she never goes poor again and will leave her alone. If she loses, her wish is his to grant...and her soul is his to take.

As Izael and Alex dance around each other, the stakes grow higher and higher. Will Izael succeed in his quest to make Alex his own, or will she prove to be his downfall?

He hoped she was dreaming of him. He hoped she was having nightmares of him. He would lay the whole world at her feet. She would be a spoiled duchess, wearing the finest of clothes—mainly so he could tear them off her—and be fed the most perfect of treats. She would have servants to wait on her hand and foot. He would lavish her with gifts. With praise. With pleasure.

With terror.

Because Alex belonged to him. And she would come to understand it. And she would embrace him with open arms in the end. Or else her end would be of a very different kind.

She did look so tasty, after all…

[my-romance-library]

'Monstrous Matches' series - Lillian Lark

Stalked by the Kraken (#1)

A matchmaking witch, an ancient sea creature, and the sex contract they make.

The Witch

Celibacy is a bad look for a matchmaker.

Especially a matchmaker who works at the kind of paranormal bathhouse that would have grandmothers clutching their pearls.

A worse look is a matchmaker experiencing a crisis of confidence.

I am that matchmaker.

We need raw magic, desperately.

And now a mysterious man walks into my office, offering me the exact solution I need.

The problem is that he wants to be matched… with me.

Matching doesn’t work for me; I found that out the hard way.

The Kraken

I saw her and the creature inside me wanted.

She doesn’t want a relationship. She says that the most we can have are the three nights she promised me, but the dark part of myself isn’t going to let the woman who snared its attention go.

I found her. I hunted her. She’s mine.

“But… you don’t want to read our compatibility?” he asks.

I snort. “I’m curious, but it doesn’t matter. I claim you with what I know and the feelings I have for you.”

“Because I’m your perfect match,” he says the words with such forceful aggression I can only smile.

My perfect match. The term had been a sore spot, but now it echoes through me with a beautiful resonance. “You’re the match I choose, and that makes it perfect.”

//

Ensnared by the Werewolf #2.5

Belinda loves curse breaking. When a man shows up at her shop asking for help, she’s delighted to assist.

Who wouldn’t help their fated mate after all?

Things go from bad to worse and now she’s left on the rebound. Perhaps riding the local lake monster through his heat will be enough to patch up her wounded soul and get her life out of the rut it’s fallen in.

Getting lost in the woods on the way to her date was not a part of the plan.

What also isn’t a part of the plan? Belinda has unfinished business coming for her with an entirely different type of rut in mind.

Can she outrun what hunts her? Does she want to?

Ensnared by the Werewolf takes place in the same world and night as Found by the Lake Monster and includes chasing, knotting, and breeding.

//novella, rejected mate, second chance

[my-romance-library]

'The Legends of Thezmarr' series - Helen Scheuerer

Blood & Steel #1

Women are forbidden to wield blades, so she has trained in secret her entire life. Now racing against the clock, she fights to secure her place in the elite guild charged with the protection of the five kingdoms.

The sparring and hazing of the new trainees border on deadly, but even more dangerous is her growing attraction to Wilder Hawthorne, her unwilling warrior chaperone.

All around them, schemes are afoot and darkness looms.

Will Althea pass the perilous initiation test and take her place as a champion of Thezmarr – or will the invading evil snatch away her dream before it starts?

His eyes narrowed and he pushed off from the wall, closing the gap between them in a single step. ‘You want to know what I think? I think —’ He took a deep, measured breath, his whole body rising and falling.

‘What?’ she baited him, feeling her own temper rise to his. ‘I desperately need to know what deep thoughts bounce around in that thick skull of yours. Go on, tell me.’

‘I think that I have never known someone to be so infuriating… Someone who makes my blood boil in such a way that I want to kill you and kiss you all at once.’ Thea’s heart stuttered, her skin tingling as she realised just how close he was.

‘You’ll no doubt fuck it up either way,’ she taunted, recalling how he’d drawn her in before, only to leave her wanting. ‘But go on,’ she challenged. ‘Do it.’

His gaze darkened. ‘Kill you or kiss you?’

Despite all logic, she leaned in. She wanted this, wanted him, even though she shouldn’t. Even though she knew better. Even though it put everything she’d worked for at risk. Even though he was Wilder Hawthorne and he had spurned her twice before. Thea lifted her chin. ‘Take your pick, Warsword.’

Then, his hands swept around her waist, pulling her to him, and he kissed her.

//

Vows and Ruins #2

This woman… My woman… He had fallen for her long ago, but what he’d failed to realise was that when it came to love, it wasn’t a single fall, but many, over and over. It was there in the grander gestures: slaying monsters, fighting furiously and making heartfelt declarations. But it was in the smaller, quieter moments that he felt it the most deeply – that shift at the very heart of him, where he fell for her beyond reason. His throat closed up as it hit him. He would forever be falling for Thea.

[my-romance-library]

'Ghost Walk' - Cassandra Gannon

Grace Rivera just wants to be normal. She’s the only member of her spell-casting, fortune-telling family who isn’t hunting unicorns or trying to discover the lost recipe for Troll Powder. Trained as a crime scene investigator, she believes in science and cold, hard facts. And right now, the cold, hard facts are telling Grace that she’s lost her mind. It started last July, when she “hallucinated” that she traveled back in time to relive a crime before it had even happened. Her resulting breakdown cost Grace her forensics job, so now she’s stuck working as a tour guide in her Revolutionary War themed hometown. After a year of rebuilding her life, she’s finally convincing herself that she might just have a chance to be normal, again. …Until a handsome, sarcastic, and really real seeming ghost shows up on her Ghost Walk, anyway.

Captain James Riordan was unjustly hanged for murder on July 4th 1789. Ever since then, he’s been haunting the streets on Harrisonburg, Virginia, trying to find some way to clear his name. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to prove his innocence as an incorporeal ghost, so mostly he whiles away his un-life watching teen soaps on TV and tagging along on Harrisonburg’s nightly Ghost Walk. The tour is supposed to tell visitors spooky stories about the historic town. On this particular night, though, there’s a new tour guide leading the group. She’s terrible at waving scary tales. She looks like a Sunday school teacher. She’s spreading slanderous lies about him. …And she’s the first person in centuries that can actually see him.

Now Grace and Jamie are working together to solve a two hundred year old crime. From the eighteenth century and back again, the two of them are determined to clear Jamie’s name and set history right. Even if it means some time-traveling forensics work. Even if it means Grace has to listen to Jamie lament his lost pirate’s treasure (a lot) and Jamie is frustrated because he can’t physically touch the one person in the world he’s sure is his. Even if it means dealing with Grace’s stalking ex-boyfriend, her crazy relatives, and the Rivera’s lost recipe for Troll Powder. …And especially if it means a scoundrel of a ghost and girl who just wants to be normal somehow fall in love along the way.

[my-romance-library]

'Momento Mori' series - Kathryn Ann Kingsley

Kiss of the Necromancer #1

Memento Mori. Remember that you will die. Too bad that death is all Marguerite can recall.

Marguerite has no problem remembering death. She can remember dying again, and again, and again. The issue is that the impossible visions of her life coming to gruesome and terrible ends are the only things she can remember.

Who is she? What happened to her? And why are her visions haunted by a man with shining silver eyes that seems to draw her in, even as he takes her life?

When she starts to discover answers…it seems her memories aren’t as impossible as she thought.

"My knowledge is yours. My wealth, my power, all that I am is yours.” His arms slid around her waist, and he held her against his chest in an embrace.

She could not help but let her eyes slip shut as she leaned against him. “And you have taken all I am in return.”

//

Dreams of the Necromancer #2

//

Tale of the Necromancer #3

cw: abuse between MCs